State v. Kenner

640 S.W.2d 51, 1982 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 391
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJune 30, 1982
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 640 S.W.2d 51 (State v. Kenner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Kenner, 640 S.W.2d 51, 1982 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 391 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

TATUM, Judge.

The defendant, Kenneth B. Kenner, was convicted of obtaining money under false pretense (T.C.A. § 39-1901 — Sup.1981) and of passing a forged instrument (T.C.A. § 39-1704). The amounts involved exceeded $200.00 and punishment was fixed in each case at not less than 5 years nor more than 10 years imprisonment in the State penitentiary. The defendant presents nine issues for review on various grounds. The conviction for obtaining money under false pretense is reversed and remanded. The conviction for passing a forged check is affirmed.

We first address the issues testing the sufficiency of the evidence. The defendant did not testify and offered no proof. In considering the evidence, we must resolve all conflicts in favor of the State and bear in mind that upon appeal, the State is entitled to the strongest legitimate view of trial evidence and all reasonable or legitimate inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. State v. Cabbage, 571 S.W.2d 832 (Tenn.1978). Any and all .facts, including intent or purpose, may be established by circumstantial evidence as well as direct evidence. Graham v. State, [53]*53218 Tenn. 453, 404 S.W.2d 475 (1966); Prince v. State, 542 S.W.2d 842 (Tenn.Cr.App.1976).

At approximately 10:00 o’clock A.M. on Saturday, March 1, 1980, Mr. Joe Ray Wilson, president of the First Bank of Marion County at South Pittsburg, received a telephone call from a man who sounded like and purported to be Mr. Graham Swafford, the bank’s attorney. Mr. Wilson was personally acquainted with Mr. Swafford and erroneously believed that the caller was Swafford. The person calling told Mr. Wilson that he had concluded representing his cousin in a matter concerning an estate and was sending him to the bank to open up a savings account. A few minutes later, the defendant came to the bank and told Mr. Wilson, “I’m the gentleman that Graham Swafford called you about.” Wilson introduced the defendant to Ms. Ruby Mayo, a bank employee, as Graham Swafford’s cousin.

The defendant produced a check written on a “starter” check form 1 on the City and County Bank of Jefferson County, White Pine, Tennessee. The check was in the sum of |37,875.00, dated February 27, 1980, and was purported to have been signed by William T. Baird. In the upper left hand corner was typed “Jefferson County Realty Company, Box 75, Jefferson City, Tn., 37712.” The check was made to Kenneth B. Kenner and printed on the check was account number 1010321.

The defendant discussed primarily with Mr. Wilson and Ms. Mayo the purchase of a certificate of deposit. However, when Ms. Mayo prepared the certificate of deposit, he told her that he only wanted a certificate in the sum of $12,000.00 and desired a cashier’s check made to him in the sum of $25,875.00. The cashier’s check was prepared by Ms. Mayo and signed by Mr. Wilson.

The defendant told Mr. Wilson and Ms. Mayo that he had been visiting Graham Swafford’s mother, “Aunt Claude.” He also told Mr. Wilson that he was moving to Chattanooga and was opening the account at the bank because of his relationship with the Swafford family.

Mr. Graham Swafford testified that he did not make the telephone call and had no knowledge of it. A stranger, identifying himself as Bob Garland, telephoned Mr. Swafford a day or two before March 1 and made an appointment, which was not kept, to discuss real estate matters.

Ms. Margie Rimmer, Assistant Cashier of the City and County Bank at White Pine testified that the defendant opened a commercial account at her bank on December 1, 1978 and closed it on December 7, 1978. The number assigned to the defendant’s account was 1010321. The bank had no account in the name of Jefferson Realty Company or in the name of William Baird. This account was in the defendant’s name alone. When the account was opened, the defendant was furnished “starter” blank checks for a commercial account. When the City and County Bank received the check in the sum of $37,875.00 from the First Bank of Marion County, it was returned unpaid by the City and County Bank with the notation “No account on file.”

Mrs. Tony Allen of the Peoples Bank of Elk Valley in Fayetteville, Tennessee, testified that about noon on Saturday, March 1, 1980, the defendant appeared at her bank with the $25,875.00 cashier’s check issued to him by the First Bank of Marion County. He opened a $25,000.00 checking account with the cashier’s check and received $875.00 in cash. The defendant told Mrs. Allen that he was moving to Lincoln County to work in the area of special education. On the following Monday, March 3, 1980, the defendant obtained a “wire transfer” of $24,000.00.

We first address the conviction for transferring the forged check. T.C.A. § 39-1701 defines forgery as “The fraudulent making or alteration of any writing to the prejudice of another’s rights.” The offense of transferring forged paper is defined by T.C.A. § 39-1704 as follows:

[54]*54“§ 39-1704. Transfer of forged paper— Felony. — Any person who fraudulently passes or transfers, or offers to pass or transfer, any forged paper, knowing it to be forged, with intent to defraud another, is guilty of a felony.”

The elements of the offense are: (1) actual knowledge that the instrument is false, (2) direct or implied representation that the instrument is genuine, and (3) intent to defraud. Clancy v. State, 521 S.W.2d 780 (Tenn.1975); Strickland v. State, 575 S.W.2d 957 (Tenn.Cr.App.1978). The defendant insists that the evidence does not support the finding that the check given to First Bank of Marion County on the City and County Bank was in fact a forgery. He points out that the State was unable to prove the nonexistence of a Jefferson County Realty Company or William L. Baird, who purportedly signed the check. Nevertheless, we find circumstantial evidence supporting the finding that the check was in fact a forgery and that the defendant knew it to be a forgery.

The defendant had opened a commercial account for only 7 days at the City and County Bank where he obtained the blank check. The account number was printed on the blank check and no one had authority to write checks on this account but the defendant. More than one year elapsed between the time the defendant closed this account and the check was written on it. The jury was justified in concluding that the defendant knew that a check signed by William L. Baird on an account number which belonged solely to the defendant and which had been closed for more than a year was not genuine.

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Related

State v. Brewer
932 S.W.2d 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1996)
State v. Morris
750 S.W.2d 746 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1987)
State v. Baker
751 S.W.2d 154 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1987)
State v. Underwood
669 S.W.2d 700 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
640 S.W.2d 51, 1982 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kenner-tenncrimapp-1982.